CityLab Daily: The Wild World of Scooter Sharing

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What We’re Following

Dancing in the street: Dockless scooters are set to be the shared-mobility jam of the summer, but cities aren’t singing the same tune on regulations. Consider some of the latest moves:

In San Francisco, public records indicate that Lyft might be entering the e-scooter competition as companies contend for five potential permit slots (Fortune). Last week, Honolulu ordered LimeBike to stop after one week of unauthorized operation, classifying the electric scooters as mopeds and saying they would need permits to operate (Hawaii News Now). And earlier this month, Nashville’s cease-and-desist order to Bird got much more serious after two riders were critically injured by a driver in hit-and-run (The Tennessean).

All said, cities are picking up new moves as these scooters shake up well-trodden right-of-way rules for sidewalks and roads. But as they squeeze to find room in the street, we might just be realizing that our cities are still stuck in an old groove of getting around.

In his new HBO series “Problem Areas,” comedian-actor Wyatt Cenac takes a crack at solving police racism.

Brentin Mock

Let It Be

“Loiter” is a weird word. It’s even stranger that, to be considered a crime, being in a certain place for a particular amount of time is always defined by somebody else. After a series of racially charged incidents of “loitering” triggered national outrage, from Starbucks in Philadelphia to a barbeque in Oakland, visual storyteller Ariel Aber-Riger dives into the long history of laws against being somewhere you’re not wanted. Her story on CityLab:What is Loitering, Really?

These Bronx natives have been here for years. In the midst of rapid gentrification, they say they are taking control and offering the borough cultural experiences that as youngsters, they had to venture downtown to find.